Hurricane Sandy socked New York for $19 billion worth of damage, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today.
The mayor estimated the damage from the storm, which rushed ashore nearly a month ago, in a letter he wrote requesting federal aid.
“Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage to the city of New York, impairing our infrastructure and displacing tens of thousands of people,” Bloomberg said in the letter, which was sent to New York members of Congress.
The estimated losses reflect public and private damage, he said, from finding new housing for people who lost their homes to restoring and bolstering the shoreline.
Bloomberg estimated that private insurance would cover $3.8 billion of that total, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse 5.4 billion.
After this, he estimated that New York will still face $9.8 billion in costs.
“The city will struggle to recover in the long term unless expedited federal funding is supplied,” Bloomberg warned the feds.
He noted that after Hurricane Katrina, $120 billion worth of aid was authorized.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo previously requested at least $30 billion in federal aid for the state.
